Pickup strikes pillar in front of Firestone

March 5, 2011 at 2:01 p.m.Updated March 4, 2011 at 9:05 p.m.

The driver of a pickup truck traveling east on Airline Road suddenly veered left and struck a brick column at Firestone Auto Care. The driver blacked out before the wreck and was taken to a hospital for observation.

OTHER CRASHES INTO BUILDINGSOn Feb. 10, a car driven by an 82-year-old ran into Discount Tire at 7701 N. Navarro St. after being struck by another vehicle. The driver was taken to the hospital.

On Feb. 22, a car driven by a 57-year-old Victoria woman struck the entrance of Uncle Mutt's Bar-B-Q Co. No one was injured.

On Sunday, a truck driven by Michael Wayne Kennedy, 30, of Victoria, ran into the front of a Speedy Stop at 3301 Sam Houston Drive, coming to rest completely inside the store. A 54-year-old woman, inside at the time, was taken to the hospital. Kennedy was arrested after fleeing the scene.

A man crashed his truck into a brick pillar outside of Firestone Complete Auto Care at the intersection of Airline Road and Laurent Street about 10 a.m. Friday.

Shane Smalley, 43, of Victoria, was taken by ambulance to Citizens Medical Center not for injuries received in the wreck, but for a medical condition that caused him to black out and wreck, officer Travis Hanson, with the Victoria Police Department, said.

Hanson did not have an update as to what the condition was, but a hospital spokesperson said Smalley was in stable condition.

Witnesses inside the business said they heard a loud noise and saw the 1995 Chevrolet truck had struck the barrier.

The driver appeared to be shaking, they said.

"What was scary was he was shaking a lot, and his arm was flying," witness Pierre DuCross said.

According to Hanson, the driver was eastbound on Airline Road and had a green light. He veered left and appeared to have jumped a curb and drug a rack full of tires across the parking lot before striking the pole.

Tires were scattered about the parking lot after the collision.

The collision was about five feet away from Maria De La Garza's vehicle, which she left parked in front of the auto shop.

De La Garza said she was shopping across the street and about a block away when she heard the collision.

"If I'd parked it (a few feet over), you never know how things happen," she said.

Inside, business carried on as usual, and a city building inspector verified the structure was stable.

Several bricks were knocked from the bottom of the pillar, and the rest had slid down, exposing a metal beam.

This is the fourth vehicle that has crashed into a building in the past month.